The Demon And The Angel
by Lou-deadfroggy
Summary: An Angel came to earth and fell in love with a monster. When Loki returns he makes a deal with the most powerful alien on Earth: Bruce Banner in return for kingship over humanity. Sequel to Guardian Angel.
1. Chapter 1

**The Demon And The Angel**

… …

**This is the sequel to Guardian Angel so in case you don't want to read it there's a quick summary at the bottom of this chapter.**

… …

"I think it may be appendicitis," Arella said as she flicked through the symptoms list of an example patient in the medicine book. "Or possibly gout. No, not gout, that was something different." She was sitting on the sofa; wings outstretched either side of her. Bruce lay with his head resting in her lap, staring at the underside of the book she was holding.

"Uhuh," he answered, twirling one of her long chocolate locks absently between his fingers.

"What about kidney stones?" she asked, searching through the index.

"Uhuh."

"No, definitely conjunctivitis."

"Uhuh." She batted his gently on the forehead with the book.

"You're not even listening! Conjunctivitis, an inflammation of the eye, as the diagnosis of a stomach ache?" He looked up at her face, eyes wide and innocent.

"I'm sure you're right," he said, just to wind her up. Playfully she stood up, half throwing him off the sofa. Bruce caught hold of her waist and with a twist ended up sitting up with the back of her head in just the right place for him to nuzzle her neck. It only lasted for a second before Arella fell of the sofa completely.

"You are insufferable," she told him.

"And you read the dictionary too much." It was true, she had nearly memorised the first ten letters and no one could tell she wasn't a native English speaker. The only slight problem was that the pronunciation guide Tony had given her was of JARVIS talking so she had a slightly warped British accent that was just as endearing as her mispronounced lilt had been. The cottage, it was no longer a shack, had long since been repaired. The first winter when they had arrived had been miserable but the summer was lovely and now their second spring in Montana had arrived. The two rooms and small bathroom were filled with evening sunlight and cold air as every available window and door had been opened wide.

"Did you feed the chickens?" Arella asked. They kept three hens and an uncooperative goat. The goat had been bought because it began to follow Bruce around the market and a cow really was too big when they hardly needed that much milk.

"And the beast. How would you like goat stew tomorrow?" Bruce did not appreciate the goat and the goat no longer appreciated Bruce. He often asked if Arella would like to eat the goat.

"No, I made enough soup for tomorrow as well." He let out a loud sigh.

"Well, I suppose it keeps the chickens company." Arella reappeared with two bowls of soup. This time they managed to sit on the sofa without falling off.

"I am getting better," she said when Bruce sniffed at it suspiciously. To begin with she had had no idea of how to cook, it was not something a princess needed to know and even in hiding Fran, her guardian, had cooked. "See, I can even tell you what is in it before you eat it. Leek and carrot."

"Just leek and carrot?" He winked and dug in. "S'goo."

"Don't do that, some of us have manners."

… …

Unlike Tony and Pepper, Bruce and Arella spent a lot of time in silence. It was a full silence, full of an understanding that nothing needed to be said at that particular moment. They did talk for hours on end, just not all the time.

Bruce was trying to fix the chicken coop and not get frustrated with the curious goat. Arella was sitting in the large wicker basket hanging from a tree in the shape of a teardrop chair, reading. Apart from Bruce's occasional comment about the benefits of eating goats and the odd cluck from a hen there was silence. Until Bruce gave up trying to hammer the wire grill back in place.

"You can sleep with the draft, I've had enough," he told the hens. "What book is that?" Arella looked up from the story.

"Enchanter's End Game. There is a girl called Arell," she answered.

"Arell, I guess that's a shortened version of your name. Did you have a nickname at home?" Bruce put down the hammer and squeezed onto the chair next to her.

"Not really. Father called me Button because my nose used to be upturned. We shortened Gab's name and Sera's because they really were a mouthful. I think Arell's pretty, even if the character dies."

"Yes, but she dies defending her Queen and unborn Prince," Bruce pointed out.

"True." Arella closed the book and snuggled down into the gap between the wicker and his side, her wings folded up deeper in the seat. She felt an arm slip around her hips and smiled.

"You really need to finish the chicken coop," she said. Bruce shrugged slightly.

"We could always just stay here and then nothing would eat the chickens." That did seem like a good idea as she leaned against the warmth of his side. She closed her eyes and imagined just staying there for ever, cocooned next to Bruce in their little haven. It was easier for him to forget the outside world; he was quite used to cutting people off and becoming invisible. Arella missed Pepper's endless chatter, Natasha's quiet humour, Tony's loud humour and Clint's training sessions. She also missed Steve. Sometimes, when Bruce was going on about something she didn't understand she would look around for the blond man to share in her confusion. She did love Bruce and if he felt safer away from people she would gladly never see anyone else again but that didn't mean she couldn't miss her friends. Occasionally she called Pepper who always had time to tell her everything but it wasn't the same as actually hugging her or providing the distraction when Tony tried to sneak up on Clint. She snuggled closer to Bruce and tried to forget about the Avengers.

The small, annoying mobile that Bruce kept solely so that she could keep in contact with Pepper went off. No one rang them; they respected their privacy and waited for them to call. That just proved that something was wrong. Bruce untangled himself from the chair and went indoors.

"Hello?" he asked, returning to the porch so that Arella could hear whatever was about to be said. He put the device on speakerphone.

"Bruce, it's Steve. Loki's back."

… …

**Okay, I'm really bad at writing fluff so excuse that bit.**

**Recap: Bruce found Arella (normal looking, alien, big angel wings) after she accidentally came to earth (she was looking for Asgard) after trying to escape a dictator who killed her family (they used to be the ruling family). Steve began to like her, so did Bruce who got jealous. Steve and Arella then got kidnapped and she met Hulk during the rescue. Stuff happened (this is a really quick summary) and she and Steve decided that they didn't like each other really so she ended up with Bruce. They then left for the middle of nowhere so he wouldn't be a danger anymore. It ended with Tony telling Arella about Betty Ross after he sees on the news that she's dead. Arella hasn't told Bruce yet.**

**I'm almost as bad at summaries as I am at fluff.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

… …

Bruce stared at the phone in his hand, trying to get his brain to work. It was not cooperating.

"How?" he asked. There was a long pause before Steve answered.

"He tricked his way out of prison, Thor has the details but he appeared in Oklahoma two days ago. The Tesseract is still in Asgard but Fury's assembling the Avengers. Uh, in his words, this is us asking nicely." Arella held out her hand for the phone which was passed over by a frowning Bruce.

"Steve? If Loki has no Tesseract, what damage can he do? There is no gamma signal to find so why do you need Bruce?" Tony's voice could be heard, slightly muffled as he yelled at Steve on the other end.

"For all we know he has the Tesseract with him or the staff and besides…"

"No. The other guy is not a weapon," Arella interrupted what she knew Steve was about to suggest. More muffled sounds came from the phone before Tony's voice rang out.

"Arella, remember what I told you, ages ago? That was in Oklahoma." She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

"Coincidence?" she asked, deliberately not looking at Bruce who was sending her questioning glances. She knew that Loki appearing in the same place Betty Ross was killed probably wasn't by accident.

"No, it doesn't look like it. Have you?"

"No." She hadn't told Bruce yet and still wasn't planning to for quite some time, especially now. The other guy going off the rails was not going to help right now.

"I'll be in Salt Lake City at midday tomorrow if you need a lift." Tony hung up, leaving Arella to deal with a very puzzled Bruce.

"Are you going to tell me or do I have to wait until we get to Utah?" he asked. "I assume we're going now?" She sighed, not quite meeting his eye. "What happened in Oklahoma?"

"We are not going to Utah. I am going to Utah. You don't have to come, Fury wants to use you as a weapon against Loki again and I'm not going to let him do that to you."

"But you're going to let him make you into one instead? Do I not get a say in this at all? This isn't even your world, Arella," Bruce replied, his voice calm but the anger closer to the surface than normal.

"I can chose to fight and," she stopped, biting back what very nearly came out of her mouth.

"And you can chose who you hurt," Bruce finished for her. She began to try and say something to make it up but he stopped her. "If he doesn't have the Tesseract then Loki's not a danger, right? So what did Tony say to change your mind?"

"Loki is coming after us. Personally. I can't let that happen to you," she answered meekly.

"What does Oklahoma have to do with it?"

"I can't, I'm sorry but I can't tell you. Please, Bruce, just trust me. I'm trying to keep you safe," she pleaded, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. He stared at her for a second before pulling her into his chest and holding her tightly. It was alright for a second until he didn't let go. Arella noticed his arms shaking as they wrapped themselves too hard around her ribs, beginning to crush her diaphragm.

"Bruce, let go, that hurts," she told him, squirming around to try and break his grip. "I'm sorry, just calm down. Bruce? Please let go, you're hurting me." She could no longer breathe and he wasn't replying. As she gasped for breath tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Bruce," she squeaked, breathless. His whole body was shaking as he battled with his own mind, but still he didn't let her go. Black spots swam in front of Arella's eyes. It was then that she felt something snap inside her chest and she let out a choked, gurgling scream.

Bruce couldn't think of anything except that he couldn't let Arella go and face Loki. He couldn't let her go. He was angry at the others for trying to pull her away, angry at her for lying to him about something. Then she had moved closer to him, saying things he could no longer hear as he forced the other guy to stay in his mental cage. She was too close, she would get hurt but he couldn't let her go. Then she screamed and he opened his eyes.

Stumbling back into the pile of wood that had formerly been the chicken coop Arella choked on the air that was now filling her lungs. There was a searing pain in her chest, making it impossible to fill her lungs completely. She was crying, her wings pulled around her protectively as she lay crumpled on the ground.

"Arella." Bruce was kneeling beside her the second he realised what he had done. He moved his hands to cradle her head, not expecting the sharp jerk that moved her whole body out of his reach. "I…" She was clinging to a tree trunk, backed up as far away from him as she could manage. There was nothing he could say that would take back what he had done, nothing to make it better. He had hurt her, the one thing even Hulk had never done and all because she was trying to protect him from something.

"I'm sorry," was all he could manage but it wasn't enough. It couldn't be enough when he had hurt her. She was clutching her ribs, struggling to breathe even now that he had let go.

"Do something," she sobbed and crossed the space between them, catching hold of his arm. Gently he helped her into the house and onto the sofa. He managed to control himself enough to get the medical bag out of the cupboard and began to attempt to undo the damage he had done.

They didn't speak, she could hardly breathe and he had nothing to say. He had so much to tell her but no words to say. When he had finished he sat back on his heels and looked at her tear-streaked face.

"I'm sorry," he murmured again. She didn't answer. "I'll go and pack for Utah."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

… …

Bruce drove in silence, not trusting himself to speak. Arella lay across the backseat, wincing at every bump in the road. It was several hours until they reached Utah and he would be driving through the night. All in an uncomfortable silence. It wasn't until he had to stop for petrol that she spoke.

"It's alright, Bruce," she told him quietly. She had managed to sit up, causing the other customers on the forecourt to give them very strange looks. Carefully she reached out for him although she certainly didn't move anything except her hand closer to him.

"No, it's not. I broke your rib. In no way is that alright. I could have killed you without the other guy's help. I was right; you should have stayed with Tony." He rammed the key into the ignition and pulled out.

"It's a hairline fracture, Bruce. It'll be fine in a few weeks. You were concentrating on him anyway; it's not your fault." She sighed, leaning back into the seat.

"You shouldn't have to deal with it," he muttered, thinking that she couldn't hear.

"I love you. I'd go through anything for you. Don't go down that line of thought, please. I don't care what you do; nothing will ever change how I feel about you. You need to learn to accept that." He knew that she was upset, not just about the broken rib. He didn't trust her not to leave, he couldn't believe that she would really stay and that hurt her more than any blow he could deliver.

"It's just too hard to keep you safe and knowing that I'm the one who's the danger. I guess I've just proved that I can't protect you well enough," he broke off with a sigh, pulling onto the interstate.

"I don't need you to protect me, I'm not defenceless." She could see a bitter little smile in the mirror as he glanced up to look at her.

"No, you're not," he answered quietly. "Woe betides anyone who crosses you in a bad mood."

"Ah but you see I have this great guy who knows loads about anger management." The mood lightened slightly and the quiet was no longer as uncomfortable.

… …

Tony raised an eyebrow as Bruce led Arella up to the plane but didn't comment on the slightly visible bandages peeping out from underneath her camisole top. There was a distinct lack of SHIELD agents in the plane; it was empty apart from Tony.

"I figured that Fury's 'asking nicely' isn't the best way to welcome you both back into the real world," he explained. "Take a seat, guys and tell me what you two lovebirds have been up to. Seriously, you guys never call." He winked slyly at Bruce as he began the flight-checks.

"Bruce has been plotting ways to kill the goat," Arella told him, sitting down and pulling Bruce down next to her. She was making a show of forgiving him and not being scared off. Gingerly he placed his arm around her waist, relaxing slightly as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"To be fair the goat is most probably plotting to kill me too," he shot back.

"You guys have a goat? Oh no, you've turned into farmers!" Tony wailed. "That is so not doing my street cred any good." They laughed at him as he tried to move away.

"Just the goat," Arella said, her breath coming in slightly strained gasps.

"And the chickens," Bruce added, trying to stop the banter, aware that she should probably not be laughing so much because of her rib.

"Chickens? Oh no, that's just even worse. Don't tell me you guys have a cow and pigs. Ha! I can just see you bringing in the hay or something!" Tony left them alone for a moment as he took off.

"Are you okay," Bruce whispered, trying to get her into the most comfortable position.

"I'm fine," she answered before looking over at Tony. "What exactly is going on?" The billionaire sighed.

"Thor opened Loki's cell to get rid of the shackles. I guess seeing your brother chained up like a dog is hard so he was just making it all a bit more honourable. Of course Loki tricked him and got out. I thought maybe you could talk to him, Bruce; he's beating himself up about it and between you and Clint there's enough of the whole blaming yourself thing going around. Loki showed up in New Mexico first, blew a few things up then in Oklahoma. So far he's not done any major damage, no stunts like the one he did in Stuttgart or anything. We think he's looking for something."

"Not the Tesseract, that's in Asgard, right?" Bruce asked. Tony shook his head but met Arella's eye for a fraction of a second to say that what she was thinking was right. Bruce's accident had taken place in New Mexico, Betty Ross had moved to Oklahoma and now they had lost Loki.

"Thor's dad still has it safely under lock and key. The only reason Loki's here is because he dressed up like Thor and got someone to let him through some portal thing. There hasn't been any threats, no attacks on SHIELD or anything," Tony said. "Everyone's stumped."

"So am I as to why you need us. Fury agreed that I'd be brought in only if there was a radiation threat." Bruce was cut off by Natasha's voice over the comm.

"Tony? Do you have them?" she asked immediately.

"Yes, I've got them. What's the problem?" There was a brief pause as shouting could be heard over the link.

"Loki's made another appearance, in Calcutta." Tony swivelled around to look at Bruce without thinking. "He hasn't made a move yet, just appeared on a camera outside."

"We'll be at the tower in about half an hour, out." He ended Natasha's call and glared at Arella.

"You've got some explaining to do," he told her coldly. "It's more than just coincidence now."

"What's going on?" Bruce asked softly, straightening up from where he had been leaning back in the seat.

"Loki's coming after you, you specifically. He went to New Mexico first, where you had the accident, then Oklahoma and now Calcutta, where Natasha found you. It's obvious you're part of his plan again," said Arella, staring at the carpet.

"Are you going to tell me what all this fuss about Oklahoma is or will I have to find that out for myself?" Again Tony sent Arella the death glare.

"Somewhere less breakable," she replied.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

… …

The only welcoming committee they received was Agent Hill who led them to the bridge without a word.

"What, did everyone else go the party and we weren't invited?" Tony asked her, frowning playfully.

"Agents Barton and Romanoff along with Captain Rogers are in Calcutta," she answered. Fury was standing at the table with a very disgruntled Thor.

"Doctor, I'm glad you decided to come," the director said as he moved to shake Bruce's hand.

"It wasn't really my choice," he answered and pulled out a chair for Arella, noticing that an extra one had been added for her. Thor was about to pull her into a bear hug when she baked away slightly.

"Are you hurt?" the blond god asked, his eyes going straight to the white bandage beneath her top.

"Just a bump. What's happening in Calcutta?" Bruce took the seat next to her, Tony coming to sit opposite him and Thor flanking Arella. Fury stood at the head of the table, bringing up the screen and calling Natasha.

"Agent Romanoff, situation update," he ordered. Natasha's redhead filled the screen as she looked up from the plane's controls.

"Loki set fire to a few houses, we followed him into one a few blocks from the flames. He got away and the house was empty apart from a mobile Clint thinks is important. It's old and has no battery. We're on our way back now, Loki won't stay." Fury turned to Bruce, his one eye boring a hole in the doctor's face.

"All of Loki's appearances have been in places connected with you, Doctor. Is there anything significant about that phone?" Bruce's face had gone a shade paler before he answered the director.

"I gave it to a little girl in Calcutta, about five years ago. It ran out of battery so she used it as a toy or something. I don't know how Loki could even know that." Fury nodded slightly, thinking.

"Who else would know, besides yourself?"

"Well, Priyanka obviously, she'll have shown it to her playmates and such. I did tell Clint once, but that's it." He had spent some time with the archer after the battle in New York and the two had grown perhaps closer than they had to any of the others. Fury's eyebrow went up slightly, betraying his thoughts. Clint had been compromised before, he could be again.

"Loki has a powerful mind, he did have some sort of hold over you before, doctor, is it possible he learnt about this gift from that?" Thor boomed in what was meant to be a quiet, well thought out question.

"I don't know. I can't even know if it was Loki or me who picked up that sceptre." Bruce stared down at his hands only to find that one of them had been taken into custody by a small, long-fingered one. Arella gave it a slight squeeze.

"Sir, they're back," Hill announced. Sure enough Natasha, Clint and Steve arrived within seconds, the archer throwing a small mobile to Bruce. Steve bent down to hug Arella when he noticed the bandage.

"What happened?" he asked, shooting Bruce a slightly accusing glance.

"Never mind that, we need a plan to deal with Loki," Fury interrupted. "He's going after Doctor Banner, why?"

"He got a pretty good reaction out of me last time, there may not be a window for me to jump out of again," Bruce answered. He had told Arella everything about the Avengers and their battle with Loki. She squeezed his hand again. Steve sat as far away from Tony as was possible leaving Natasha and Clint the seats either side of the billionaire.

"Then why not repeat what he did last time? No, there's something else, something about you he's looking for. Did you think to try and find that girl?" asked Tony.

"We didn't have a name and the house was deserted," Clint told him. "There wasn't a body." Bruce let out a sigh of relief; at least the child hadn't been killed because of him.

Loki had one talent: perfect timing. His face lit up the screen somehow, sending jitters of shock and panic across the bridge.

"Good day, Avengers. I was wondering if you happened to know who this is," the cold voice rang out as the picture changed to a frightened girl of about ten sitting against a wall, crying. Bruce inhaled sharply. "I thought you might. Do you think she'd enjoy some company or will that be all?" Loki's face disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Tony was up and half-way to the door before anyone could say a word.

"Stark, where are you going?" Steve called.

"He's going for Pepper, I have to get there!" Thor leapt up to follow him.

"But Tony, if Loki's going for hostages, why didn't he try and take Betty?" Bruce asked. Everyone except Thor turned to stare at him, their eyes wide. Tony sent Arella a murderous glare.

"Steve, Thor, Loki's pissed me off enough. I'm off," he said and stormed out. "If you don't, I will Arella and I won't do it nicely." Confused, the two blond men hurried after him.

"Agent Romanoff, please escort Doctor Banner and Arella to the," Fury began. Natasha stood up but barely hid the reluctance to obey the order that was about to come.

"Don't you want to keep my room free for when Loki gets brought back?" Bruce asked him calmly. The one-eyed man sighed.

"My first duty is to the safety of this ship and everyone on board, Doctor." Resigned, Bruce shrugged.

"Anything for answers," he muttered and followed Natasha as she led them towards the detention level. Without another objection he walked up to the glass cell. Arella gasped, staring at it in horror.

"I think it may be a good idea, you said somewhere less breakable," he said weakly, sitting down on the hard bench. "Hit me with it."

She took a deep breath as the door closed behind her.

"Betty Ross is dead."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

… …

Bruce stared at her as if he hadn't heard. He just looked at her blankly.  
"Bruce, I'm sorry," she said, laying a hand on his shoulder. He didn't react.  
"Arella, get out of there now!" Natasha hissed as she opened the door. Bruce backed away, clutching at his head. "Arella!" Instead of leaving the cell she cradled his head in her hands.  
"I'm sorry, Bruce. It wasn't Loki." He jerked out of her grasp, the seams of his shirt beginning to tighten. "Please, Bruce, don't," she begged but it was too late. A guttural scream filled the glass cage as Bruce's form erupted into the Hulk. Natasha screamed at Arella but the security agent nearby shut the door before she could make it out.  
"Let her out! He'll kill her!" the redhead yelled.  
"I can't do that, ma'am," the agent replied.

She didn't know the overrides to unlock it and could do nothing but watch as Hulk threw his head back and let out a howl of pain. Bruce may no longer have been in love with Betty Ross but Hulk still had her programmed in as a person to save.  
Arella did her best not to flinch as the green giant pounded the floor, making the whole cell shift alarmingly. Then the Hulk spotted her and raised a huge arm. She stepped back slightly, hearing Natasha's yell not to touch the glass.  
Instead of crushing her, he brought the massive limb to rest heavily on her shoulder, causing her to gasp in pain as he put pressure on her rib. Hulk let out a distressed mewling sound like a wounded kitten, lowering his head so that she could see into his eyes. There was no hint of Bruce in them but neither was there a threat. Arella cupped the green head gently in her hands.  
"It'll be okay," she murmured to him. With a loud thump Hulk sat down on the floor, his head still leaning precariously towards her. Kneeling, Arella ran her fingers through the thick tuft of black hair, the only thing that connected Bruce and the Hulk appearance wise. The giant made another mewling noise and she realised that he was crying.  
"It's okay, Natasha, I think I've got this under control," she called softly to her friend. She figured that it would be quite some time before she could leave and even longer until she'd want to abandon Bruce or Hulk for anything. The assassin sent her fellow agent a death glare and the young man decided that opening the door would be a good idea.

"Hey, do you have some clothes we can put him in?" Arella called as Hulk reduced down to Bruce's size. The now terrified security guard went to get a pair of shorts.

... ...

Bruce woke up in an actual room and not a glass cell with a removable floor. Arella sat on the floor against the opposite wall, flicking through a book absently.  
"Did he hurt you?" he asked as he sat up. Under the covers he found that she had put a pair of shorts on him, hopefully before he had been transferred to the bed. She smiled and shook her head.  
"No, docile like a kitten. He was upset but not angry at me. How are you feeling?" Bruce sighed, reaching out for her automatically. She came to sit beside him and wrapped her wings around him protectively.  
"How did it happen?" he asked quietly. Arella ran a hand through his hair as she told him.  
"The day we left New York Tony saw it on the news. There was a fire in a petrol station in Oklahoma, she moved there about three months earlier. It was a stupid stunt by a group of idiots but not aimed at her in particular. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tony sent some help to her kids; they still have their dad but in case they relied on her earnings. I'm sorry; I was hoping I'd never have to tell you. I know who she was, what she meant to you. I'm sorry, Bruce."  
They stayed there, his head cradled into her shoulder for a long time. Arella knew that Natasha was outside with a canister of the strongest knock out gas possible just in case. Unlike Hulk, Bruce didn't pass out or cry; he simply sat there.

"What about Pepper?" he asked softly after about an hour. "Did Tony get to her in time?"

"I don't know. I've been with you since they left. Natasha might know but if there's been an emergency they haven't called us."

"Not one where the other guy was needed," he replied slightly bitterly.

"Not one where Bruce was needed," corrected Arella. "I'm sure he got there in time and if not Clint's missed out on his chance to beat the hell out of Loki." Bruce laughed slightly.

"There's a queue and Thor doesn't have first dibs. I think both Clint and Natasha are in front of him, Fury too. Only then do Tony, Steve and I get a go."

"Add me in there somewhere; he's not my favourite person right now," Arella said coldly. "In fact he comes about fourth on the list." Bruce cocked his head slightly.

"You have a list?" he asked. "And who would be on it?"

"Jeie, his security officer, Sera then Loki and finally Merza's Father."

"Sera, isn't that what you called your sister? Why would you hate her?" He frowned, concerned that maybe something similar to his own childhood had happened to Arella.

"My Mother would be on there but you can't hate the dead. Sera left my brother and me to die when she switched sides, hoping to become Jeie's queen. It didn't really work out like that. Merza, he was one of my best friends but his father was dangerous. Is, I suppose he survived the fall. He was the sort of person who was good at surviving."

Suddenly there came a knock on the door and the redhead pocked her face round it.  
"Stark's back. They have Loki."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

****

**... ...**

They all sat around the table on the bridge, watching the screen carefully. Tony was on the recently emptied detention level, making sure that Loki was in the glass cell. He had taken Pepper to her parents' house in Vermont in an effort to keep her safe and Fury had dispatched agents to protect her. Jane had also been moved in case. Anyone connected with the Avengers had been placed under SHIELD's care now that they knew Loki was taking hostages.  
A view of the cell filled the small screens in front of each of them, Loki sitting on the bench with a slight smile on his face. Tony stood by the controls, his voice heard through the speakers.  
"I'd offer you a drink but Fury's kind of boring about that sort of thing." To cover his anxiety he had reverted to his usual self. Loki laughed.  
"Oh, I'd much rather meet your newest recruit. An avenging angel, how appropriate." They all turned to Arella, several questions about to be asked.  
"I know you're listening, Princess; I come bearing news of your sister. She lives, you know, still searching for you," Loki continued. Thor snarled something in Asgardian.  
"He is lying, Arella. You cannot trust him," the blond god began.  
"I know that Sera is alive. I very nearly said goodbye to her. There is no way she would be looking for me, though." She shrugged and went back to watching the screen.  
"I'm not sure if Arella feels like talking to you right now," Tony answered. "She's in a pretty bad mood." Loki cackled.  
"Oh yes, what a pair they make. Do you even know who she is? A girl who can fall in love with such a monster can only be a worse demon herself." Tony shrugged.  
"None of us are heroes, except the Captain of course but he's insufferable. So what if Arella has a bit of a history, let's face it who hasn't? I still don't get your point." He turned to go. "Anything you want? A good book?"  
"I want to see the princess," Loki replied. Tony opened the door, shooting one last comment over his shoulder.  
"Yeah good luck with that, she's got both the Hulk and the Capsicle looking out for her."  
Fury turned to Arella, his eye narrowed slightly.  
"How well do you know Loki?" he asked.  
"We were friends when we were children, I have not seen him since I was ten," she answered. Thor shot her a look and spoke.  
"There was a rumour, once, of Loki being betrothed to either you or your sister. A long time ago. It never came to anything." Both Bruce and Steve choked slightly.  
"What? They still do arranged marriages on your world?" the blond man asked, outraged. The two aliens shrugged.  
"I was a princess; I would have been married to a neighbouring prince to seal a treaty or to another world to assure peace. I suppose I was lucky that I at least knew Loki, Sera would probably have been wedded to the Emperor of Claranci and she never even met him. My parents met once before their wedding day." They all stared at her, the practise being ancient on earth.  
"Well at least they got along," Steve said to break the awkward pause. He didn't expect the loud scoff that she replied with.  
"Oh they hated each other. It was almost comical. Four sons and two daughters but they couldn't stand the other one." Fury cleared his throat to pull them back on track.  
"Do you think you can find out what he plans to do? We need to prevent any more hostages," the director said.  
"And get Priyanka back safely," Bruce added.

... ...

"Ah, princess, what a pleasant surprise," Loki breathed, his voice as smooth as silk.  
"Neither of us bear a title anymore, Loki," she answered from the shadows. A brief flicker of annoyance grazed his features. "But of course you have come to rectify that."  
"Indeed. Have they told you to try and fathom out my mind? Or are you here of your own accord?"  
"Both. Should I bother trying to reason with you, Loki? No I don't think I need to." She stepped as close to the glass as she could get, face to face with him.  
"Are you frightened, princess? Scared of what I will do to your precious new world?" he leered.  
"Scared? No, Loki, why should I be scared? What could you possibly do to me?" He let out another bitter laugh.  
"You think he can't die, you think the beast within is indestructible. But what about the man? I know the lengths your kind goes to for sentiment, how deep the link is." She stared at him, unfazed. "Oh but that is just too much! You haven't, have you?" Loki took a moment to recover as a fit of laughing overcame him. Arella watched, looking slightly bored.  
Back on the bridge Bruce was receiving very puzzled glances. He shrugged them off uncomfortably.  
"What does he mean?" Fury asked quietly. Bruce went slightly red. He was spared the need to reply by Arella who answered Loki. Instead of English she spoke in a more guttural, ugly language.  
"What are they saying, Thor?" Fury demanded. The blond god frowned at the screen.  
"I do not know, they are speaking old Asgardian. I was never a scholar, I cannot understand it." Fury swore under his breath.

"We were friends, Loki, once. When Sera mocked me you were the one I ran to. What do I have to do to make you spare him? Please, Loki," she whispered. A cruel smile crossed his features.  
"You do not share his mind, I cannot hurt you yet. The whole of humanity is on the line and you ask for a monster? Oh but the Black Widow has told you this! I am not here to unleash the beast, Arella. No, I came here for you. Why would Jeie want you, over Sera or any other princess? What did you show him? What power?" She gasped, staring at him.  
"You want me to help you? I was the youngest daughter, the gift does not run in my blood as strongly as in Sera or my brothers. I have not tried on the humans." Loki smiled, looking truly excited for the first time.  
"Your family has the power to rule with a single touch. Only Jeie was immune. Even you don't fully understand your potential." She was becoming impatient now, frantic even.  
"I have an army, Arella, and a way to send you back home. Help me and name your price, fight with them and I will wait; wait for you to take advantage of the last possible night together before breaking you both. A city, full of children, all destroyed by the beast. How would he take waking up to that? How could he live?" Loki had switched back to English to make sure that Bruce understood the threats.  
"Are you going to kill me, Loki? Or try and force Bruce to?" she asked quietly. He laughed.  
"No, I'm going to hand you over to Jeie, a great gift in return for his aid against Asgard." He switched back to old Asgardian. "Unless you help me. Then you would be a queen. The beast would live and earth would be at your command."  
"What must I do to save him?"  
"Create a distraction." She turned to leave, not wanting to spend another minute with him.  
"It is a lie," came the clipped old fashioned voice in English. "You know nothing of the truth." A smile flickered across her face.  
"I pity you, Loki," she told him.  
"You who fell in love with a monster?"

"There are old tales of demons and angels," she half whispered to herself.

"But are you truly the angel?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

… …

Natasha was waiting for her, standing directly outside the door. Without a word she rushed Arella up the corridor to a spot halfway between two doors.

"This is one of the few camera blind spots on the ship, keep your voice down and tell me what happened," the red head ordered. There was something urgent, some emotion in her voice that wasn't usually there.

"Loki wants me to help him, in return for Bruce's safety," Arella replied quietly. Natasha stared at her for a split second then nodded.

"Play along, all the way along. You don't seem to be a susceptible to his mind tricks as we are. What does he want? A breakout?"

"No, a distraction." With that the assassin pulled her along back towards the bridge. She didn't slow down or talk to her until they were in the lift and about to step out as it came to a stop.

"Lie your face off," she whispered and led the way to the table. Bruce was up in a second, reaching out to check how shaken Arella was. Fury beat him to the first word by less than a second.

"Would you care to explain what just happened?" the director asked, looking unimpressed. Arella was reminded of the games Tchako and Fran used to make her play, lying and politics in case she ever had to go back to court. When she had gone back she had excelled at the real life version.

"I thought that if he believed I was willing to betray you to guaranty Bruce's safety then he would tell me something of his plans," Arella answered. She met Fury's eye without looking away, as if she had nothing to hide. She could lie to him easily enough but she avoided meeting Bruce or Steve's gaze.

"And?" Fury looked exasperated, clearly thinking she was too slow to be of much use.

"I'm not a very good liar. He told me nothing," she said. Bruce had his arm around her shoulders and looked even more haggard than earlier. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"We still need to find that girl," Steve told them. "Did he mention her at all?" Arella shook her head.

"Loki will not harm her, it is dishonourable," Thor added, trying to make things seem slightly better. Loki hadn't exactly shown much tendency towards honour if it didn't coincide with his plans. That was what troubled Arella; so far a little girl Bruce once knew had done nothing more than force her tell him about Betty's death. It in no way furthered Loki's domination of Earth. Natasha had told her to play along and Arella trusted the Black Widow's experience in the art of trickery but she hadn't told her how to provide Loki's diversion. She looked around as she sat down, her eyes locking onto the red fire alarm. No, that wouldn't work; they would know that there was no fire. A real fire, however, in some vital place on board, would work fine.

Arella didn't need to tell Natasha, her quick glance at the fire alarm had told the spy enough. The redhead hadn't been gone three seconds before Hill called up to Fury.

"Sir, there is a serious fire in engine one, response teams are on their way." The director looked around furiously.

"Loki," they all said simultaneously. Sure enough within moments an alarm went off to say that the cage had been dropped.

"Slightly less stylish than last time," Tony remarked as his armour sprang out of its box and attached itself to him. Clint, Natasha and Steve were already running towards the detention level, the three flying Avengers towards the deck. Arella stopped to give Bruce a squeeze on the shoulder and a smile.

"Be careful," he called after her. He wasn't going to be much good in such an enclosed space.

Outside Arella took a moment to pull on her steel wings and breastplate, catching the helm Tony threw at her.

"Suit up, Angel," he said and she knew that he was grinning under his mask. Moments later they were both in the air and heading towards the belly of the ship.

"Loki's got help; we need to shoot down that plane!" Tony told her, firing at the small jet positioned underneath the helicarrier. It had effectively caught the cell and let it drop before the two Avengers could get there. Thor came rushing past them, hammer in hand.

"Loki's on board, bring that plane down!" Fury ordered in their ears.

"That's what we're doing," Tony answered. Arella darted in close to the cell before being driven away by the onslaught of fire coming from the plane's guns.

"Take them out for me, Stark!" she called and Tony obliged, taking a good chunk out of the offending guns. That let her get close enough to smash the side window. Loki's face glared at her from within the jet.

"Who's side are you on?" he asked her although she wasn't sure if he had actually spoken or not. It didn't matter as the plane abruptly dropped away from her, cutting of its engines in order to escape the Avengers.

"Yes!" came the triumphant shout from Tony's end of the comm. line. There was a slight 'oh' when the craft sped off as soon as it was out of his range. They followed, Thor and Iron Man further ahead since they had less to do in order to stay in the air.

"Keep up, Angel wings!" Arella really wished she had declined the helm.

"Pull back, all of you!" Fury told them. "The three of you can't take him out alone."

"Just watch us," Tony growled and sped off after Loki. Arella had no choice but to follow him and Thor.

"I said fall back, Stark! Now! You three are no use to us dead." Tony turned around, realising that neither Thor nor Arella could keep up with the plane.

"Well that's no fun," he moaned.

… …

**Apologies for the lateness.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

… …

Arella stretched out on the bed as far as she could without hitting Bruce as he sat on the floor. One wing was folded up against the wall and the other waved precariously above his head.

"I should have been able to keep up," she said. Bruce looked up from where he had been trying to meditate.

"You could hardly breathe out there; you're not used to flying that high. You did enough damage to that plane to stop them getting further than the nearest landmass. You've narrowed our search to the West Coast and the Pacific Islands." She shrugged off his attempt to make her feel better.

"He's going to do more damage, maybe even kill people and I should have been able to stop him." Berating herself over her apparent failure to stop the plane provided an easy outlet for the guilt that was welling up inside her. She hated having to lie to Bruce, it felt wrong.

He sighed and got up to sit on the bed, cupping her face with his hand.

"Don't do that to yourself," he told her. "Only Steve and Thor can actually breathe out there without a mask. It's Loki's plane to make us doubt each ourselves and each other. He who divides conquers, remember?" She kissed his wrist and moved over to make room for him beside her.

"It works well," she murmured. At a confused look from Bruce she continued. "Jeie did a similar thing. First he convinced some of the nobles that Father was going to take their offices away from them, then a rumour started that Ecan was meeting with rebels." From what she had told Bruce about her second eldest brother the thought did seem rather farfetched. "None of it really worked. In the end it wasn't Jeie's attempts to divide us emotionally that worked but rather he managed to get us apart during the attack on the palace. Adramel and Ecan were separated from Father and Jhoel, they had no back up and none of them could get to Gab and me in time. Of Adramel's force only Tchako survived, he was ordered to come and find me." She didn't talk about her family often, neither did Bruce. His father beat him as a child and had killed his mother; her whole family was dead except for her sister. Neither of them would ever have to meet the in-laws when they tied the knot.

"That won't happen again. We beat Loki before and he doesn't even have the Tesseract this time," Bruce said. "He won't divide us this time. He doesn't have control of one of us. We're more of a team now than we were then. Tony and Steve even manage to stay in the same room for more than a minute." She smiled faintly at that.

"Excuse my déjà vu but this is all too familiar," she whispered. His arm around her tightened slightly but avoided her rib.

"We won't let that happen," he answered. It wasn't often that Bruce spoke about himself in plural, meaning that he was referring to the other guy as well. Arella pressed her face into his chest, breathing in his smell. That was the main reason why she had decided to trust the Hulk, in the middle of a field in Pennsylvania over a year ago. One might be a giant green rage monster and the other a quiet and reserved scientist but they both smelled exactly the same: of old books, chemicals and a faint hint of curry that had never quite gone.

"I hope the goat finds some food," she mused. A low noise of annoyance came from deep within his chest.

"I hope the chickens eat it," Bruce replied. They lay there in silence for a while, until she felt Bruce taking a deeper breath and he began to talk.

"When this is over, I'll take you to India. It's a beautiful country. You would love the mountains." She let him ramble on about sleepy villages and elephants as she fell asleep, her head cradled in his chest. He stopped when he realised that she was asleep and smiled, kissing the top of her head.

"India isn't that boring," he muttered, knowing full well that she hadn't fallen asleep out of boredom.

… …

They were woken by a loud knock on the door and Steve's voice calling to them.

"Fury wants to see you on the bridge in five minutes, sorry," he apologised and they heard him march off, presumably to wake the others.

"I pity him if Tony's next," Bruce said and managed to sneak a quick kiss before rolling off the bed and reaching for some clothes.

"Capsicle pancakes for breakfast," Arella added with a small grin.

"How about goat pancakes when we get home?" She batted him gently on the shoulder.

"You know I only have maple syrup on pancakes."

Five minutes later they entered the bridge to find the other Avengers in varying levels of pissed-off-ness. At level one were Natasha and Steve who were probably already up at six in the morning no matter what. Clint and Hill clocked in at level two, both only slightly fazed by the hour. Bruce and Arella came in on level three but mainly because they hadn't been told what was going on yet. Thor was more of a level four since apparently they didn't do early mornings on Asgard. That left Tony and Fury. It was hard to tell which one was the more annoyed although for different reasons. Tony because he only ever got up at six when he had a hangover and needed to vomit or something. Fury, despite being naturally pissed-off, was annoyed at the reason for them all being up: Loki.

"He's made an appearance in south-west Montana, can one of you tell me why?" Bruce and Arella could indeed tell him why, as could Tony but only Bruce deemed himself capable of an answer.

"It's near where we lived this past year," he said grimly.

"That seals it then. Loki's going after Bruce. First New Mexico, then where Betty Ross died, then Calcutta and now Montana." Tony seemed to have shaken off a few levels of annoyance. "Is there a pattern, can we work out where he'll go next?"

Bruce thought about it then shook his head.

"If he's trying to do something like retrace my life, why didn't he start with Dayton Ohio? I get New Mexico if he's trying to follow the other guy but he's not doing it in chronological order, Tony. Calcutta would have come before Betty's death." The last two words came out in a sort of strangled way.

"Doctor, we need you to make a list of every place that Loki might try to visit if he is indeed sifting through your past. Especially anywhere significant," Fury said. Arella held out a hand and led him towards the lab that had been set up last time he was on board. She brought up a large map of the world, placing pointers in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Calcutta and Montana.

"Where else? New York?" He nodded.

"I don't know how he knows so much about me. It's as if nothing's private anymore." She stepped around the screen to hug him.

"At least it's nothing like what happened to Clint. You're here, safe and Loki can't do anything to hurt you." Even as she said it she realised what it sounded like. Bruce didn't have anyone left who wasn't safely on board the helicarrier. There was no family to hurt, no close friends to harm.

"Bruce, I'm sorry, I didn't mean," she began. He pressed a finger lightly to her mouth.

"I know. Don't worry, you're here and that's what matters most."

… …

**Enough fluff, Yoshinator?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

… …

"San Francisco." Arella looked up as Bruce whispered the name. She knew what he meant. There was a grave stone in San Francisco that had the name Banner on it. Rebecca Banner.

"Your mother." They both knew that if Loki was aiming to hurt Bruce that was where he was going to strike. It came as no surprise when Natasha burst through the door.

"San Francisco, we're leaving now."

Seconds later they were in a jet, the other Avengers suiting up around them.

"Suit up, Angel," Tony said as he threw her a backpack. Arella turned it over curiously. "Slap it on your back." Tony gave her a look that told her it was apparently obvious. She did as he said and found that out of it grew the two metal wings that encased her own and the scales that ran down her back. She was fully suited in less than a minute.

"Please tell me that was the only modification you made." Tony laughed and handed her the halo-shaped helm.

"I didn't have time to add an oxygen mask," he said. "Or any way to hide it because having a mask attached to a halo isn't a cool look." She rolled her eyes at him as she put the helm on. She didn't quite trust Tony not to give her jet propulsion or something she didn't want.

Bruce sat tensely next to her, his shoulders hunched slightly. He looked so out of place amongst the armour, guns and grim faces. A slightly worn out, all too fragile looking man in slacks and a shirt, squinting slightly to see things without his glasses. Arella slipped her smaller hand into his and held it tightly. She didn't feel up to a big battle, her rib still hurt and she knew that she hadn't trained as much in the last few months as she should have done. Repairing roofs and mediating in Bruce's arguments with the goat seemed so far away now, a dream that had happened to someone else.

Natasha touched the plane down on the middle of the already evacuated Golden Gate Bridge.

"Suiting up too, Bruce?" Tony asked playfully as they stepped out onto the tarmac.

"Only if I have to." They all looked up as a cackle of laughter echoed around them.

"Echoes don't happen in open spaces," Steve said, more to himself than his team. They all stood in a circle, weapons primed. Only Bruce stood slightly behind the others, ready to be of help if needed. Only if needed.

"Look out!" Clint yelled just as Thor was knocked off his feet by what appeared to be a black rope. The blond god was swept halfway across the bridge before he managed to right himself.

"What is that?" asked Tony, his question knocked out of him by another rope. As soon as the black tendrils finished their work they retreated back into the sky, vanishing into nothingness.

"Looks like Loki learned some new tricks," Steve answered before he too was sent catapulting across the bridge. "How do we stop them?"

There was nothing for them to fire at, nothing to attack. Arella spread out her wings and took off over the water.

"You didn't answer my question," a chilling voice said in her ear. "How's side are you on?" She span around, firing at the top of the pillar holding the structure up. Loki laughed.

"He's up there!" she yelled to the others, prompting Clint to loosen an arrow wildly up into the mist hanging above them.

"Just imagine the possibilities, of true power," Loki whispered.

"Childish tricks won't get you anywhere," she spat, earning another cold laugh. She realised that the others were oblivious to her conversation, being too far down to hear.

"Oh but you won't do anything to stop me." She didn't react when the shadows came for her, swatting her against the tarmac is if she was a bug. Bruce was next to her in an instant, crouching over her protectively.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Thor had gotten back up but Tony and Steve were taking longer to bounce back. She realised that she hadn't been hit as hard as they had; Loki wasn't trying to kill her.

"Wings slowed the fall. We need to get out of here," she told him, standing up despite the pain that shot through her rib. Bruce's hand went to her side, his face full of guilt. "Don't worry about it."

Natasha screamed as she was flung unceremoniously straight into the metal side of the bridge. There was nothing they could do to counter the attack.

"Fall back!" Steve ordered from where he was struggling to stand. Clint hurled Natasha back towards the plane as Thor grabbed Tony. It took a good shove to get Bruce to realise that Steve needed a hand and Arella could get to the relative safety of the jet on her own.

"Running away? Not very heroic of you," Loki taunted as he appeared, surrounded by a black haze, not far away. Tony shot him but the bolt went straight through.

"Even you fall for that," the Asgardian said, sounding surprised at Tony Stark's lack of intelligence.

"What have you done, Loki?" yelled Thor. None of them were close enough to the plane to reach it before Loki could retaliate.

"I served my sentence, brother, and learnt many lessons from the lost souls in your father's dungeon. Oh but can you not fight back?" He threw a fistful of shadows straight at Thor's head, missing it by inches when he ducked. "Apparently not."

"It is black magic!" Thor told them, pulling Tony into the blind spot behind the plane.

"Great, now that we can name it, how do we stop it?" the darker man asked.

"Your metal suit can't stop me, Iron Man, only one of you wields that power." Tony looked up at Thor.

"Great, so go beat your little brother up! Any time now." Bruce and Steve had managed to reach them, Arella not far behind.

"I do not know how," the god of thunder said, glancing down in shame. It took the two geniuses present about half a second to turn around. Arella wasn't behind the plane with them. She was halfway across the bridge, walking towards Loki.

"Arella! What are you doing?" Bruce yelled, making to run after her. Natasha held up her hand as Clint leant her up against the plane, keeping him still. They all watched as she neared him, unsheathing her sword without stopping.

"Are you going to try and kill me, Arella? Because that will not work out, for either of us." Bruce and Natasha shared a glance as Loki very nearly quoted him.

Arella held out her sword, almost touching Loki's neck for a second before she lowered it. Natasha swore very loudly in Russian.

"Now! You idiot!" she screamed. Arella turned, her pale face twisted into a slight smile.

"Sorry, spider. It turns out I am a very good liar after all." Loki began to laugh at their faces, grinning with glee at their shock.

"Arella, whatever he has promised you, he is lying!" Thor shouted. Tony started to ramble on at her and Clint plucked an arrow from his quiver. In a flash the missile was cutting through the air towards her.

It stopped in mid-air.

"This isn't what was supposed to happen," Natasha hissed to herself.

Arella couldn't look any of them squarely in the eye, focussing on Clint's hovering arrow instead. She didn't want to see the outrage on Thor and Tony's faces, the disbelief on Steve's or the suspicion on Clint's. She didn't want to see the barely controlled anger on Natasha's. She hadn't even managed to look at Bruce.

"Why?" came the quiet, half-muted question. Loki had already turned around and was walking away. She knew that she had to follow him.

"You can't win, not against what's coming," she told them.

"You made the wrong choice," Tony yelled, raising his arm to fire at her.

"No, Tony. I just didn't choose to save you." Shadows wrapped themselves around the bolt, turning it into a wisp of smoke. Arella turned her back on them and followed Loki. She hadn't seen the look of despair on Bruce's face because she hadn't had the strength to look at him.

… …


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

… …

"Bruce?" Tony asked his voice pitifully small compared to normal. Bruce's door was unlocked, something he was both thankful for and worried about. Carefully he pressed the panel to open it, unsure exactly what he would find.

Bruce was sitting against the wall, staring at the empty space below the bed opposite him. It was hard to miss the fact that he hadn't bothered to move from that spot for several hours. He looked more of a mess than usual.

"What happened?" Tony slid down next to him before answering.

"Fury and Natasha had a plan, to get Arella close to Loki, close enough to kill him after they found out that she was the only person who feasibly could. What they did on the bridge, the shadows, that apparently is only the beginning of the sort of stuff she can do. I don't know how she managed to keep it a secret from us for so long but she told Natasha pretty much straight away, before you guys left New York a year ago." He stopped, realising that detailing things Arella had kept from Bruce wasn't the best way to make the man feel better. "She was supposed to kill Loki on the bridge, when he didn't quite know whose side she was on."

The fact remained that Natasha had planned for Arella to stay on their side, not as a double agent at all. It should have been quick and simple; Loki's threat should have been dealt with. Instead, for some reason she had gone with him, betrayed them.

"But she didn't," Bruce said, his voice thick and heavy. "She left. Why?" Tony didn't have an answer; he simply stared ahead until something caught his eye.

"Bruce, why is there one of Arella's gun on your bed?" He didn't really want to know the answer. They all knew that Bruce had tried before and failed to end his own life, Tony hadn't expected him to try again.

"I haven't, Tony," Bruce told him, a faint hint of steel coming into his voice. "She just left it there. I haven't touched anything; it's all how she left it." He closed his eyes and leant his head against the wall.

"All I want to know is why she didn't do as Natasha planned." Tony wanted to know that too, even more than he wanted to punch Arella's face in for what she had done to Bruce. Her words on the bridge came back to him; she hadn't chosen to save him. What did that mean? She certainly hadn't chosen Bruce either.

"There's a lot we don't know about her, Bruce," he began.

"Don't even suggest that she came here because Loki told her to, or something along those lines," Bruce spat through clenched teeth.

"How else would Loki know so much about your past? How else would he have broken out? I've heard Thor's explanation and there's something not quite right. Loki had help to get back here, for all we know it was Arella." Bruce jumped up so that he towered over Tony, his face a few shades away from green.

"I don't believe that." Tony couldn't say the same.

… …

Arella stood in the middle of the darkened hall, her eyes closed. Taking a deep breath she pushed at the shadows around her. The box lying on the floor smashed into the far wall. The quiet, steady sound of approaching feet culminated in the squeaking of an opening door. She could hear Loki's breathing as he stood by the door.

She had hurt her friends. She had made it seem like Loki was forcing them into the ground when she had been providing the shadows. They had been his to command but the power had come from her.

The shattered box lifted itself up off the floor and the broken pieces shot around the room.

"My soldiers are here," Loki told her softly. "Their training will begin immediately."

Training his soldiers, the monsters he had brought from whatever hellhole he had ran to after escaping Asgard, was not a pleasant thought.

A splinter embedded itself in the floor next to her.

"Take them to a clearing, a large open space with no one around," she said, spinning the shards of wood in a cloud amongst the rafters.

"You're not the one giving orders." Loki sounded spoilt, used to being in charge.

Another splinter, somewhat larger than the first, shot into the wall less than an inch from his face.

"No, but I'm the one who wields the power." She smiled at the look of fear and doubt on Loki's face. "Don't forget, you are powerless until your mages get here, if they ever do."

Loki had an army of brutes, mindless animals that Tony could tear apart without even stopping his infuriating monologue. They weren't what had worried her, even normal Earth soldiers could deal with them. But Loki wasn't an idiot; he had another card to play.

Mages, outcasts from Asgard and other worlds, all bitter, all hungry for a fight. These were the people she was scared of, the ones she knew the Avengers stood no chance against.

"And when they do, you won't be the most powerful being on Earth, you will be nothing more than another foot soldier," Loki retorted. She laughed and let the rest of the wood drop to the floor.

"It's too late to start threatening me, Loki. You may not have need of me when your mages come but until then you are reliant on me."

"They will come, that is why you are here. You know that they are coming and the Avengers will be powerless to stop them. You will have your demon, Arella, your beast. All you have to do is teach us how to open the portal and let them through. You don't even have to fight your friends. Open the portal and you may fetch the monster at any time. Unless of course, you change your mind." He held her glare just long enough to make her look away in disgust before showing himself out.

A large piece of wood hit the door just as he slammed it shut behind him.

… …

***points at Skulduggery Pleasant book* Blame that for my inspiration as to what her 'magic' thing is. Using spells Eragon style wouldn't work and I always had a problem with wands/staff type things. So I don't really own the magic either. No characters, no magic, no plotbunnies. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

… …

What was left of the Avengers sat around the table awkwardly. Bruce and Tony weren't there and the space between Thor and Natasha seemed a thousand times bigger than just two chairs.

"What do we do now?" Steve asked, all out of plans. He was holding up better than expected, not as well as the others but still better than they had thought. Thor took it all surprisingly well too, although having a friend betray you didn't hit home quite as hard as a brother. Only Natasha seemed to have an obvious problem that she couldn't let go of, mainly because she had been the one fooled twice. None of them could give Steve a worthwhile response.

"We're going to stop them," a deadly quiet voice answered. They turned to see Bruce walking in, Tony in tow. No one in the room had forgotten what Bruce looked like angry, but this was different. They had never seen him determined before. Hulk had direction, a purpose that his calmer self lacked, until now.

"And how do you propose to do that?" Fury asked him. "Do you really plan on killing her?" Everyone except Tony held their breath, waiting for signs of green to appear.

"If we have to." Bruce's voice was cold; he sounded more like Clint or Natasha than the mild man they all knew. Tony stared at him, aware now of the change he had inadvertently made happen.

"_If that's only the beginning, we need you, Bruce. If, for whatever reason Arella is against us we need you. Whatever Loki's planning, he won't hesitate to hurt her, to use her to destroy lives. The Avengers are going to fight him and if we can't stop him then we'll take him down with us. But we need you, Bruce. You might be hurt, you may never heal but you need to return that blow or else none of what we did against the Chitauri would have mattered, none of the battles we've fought since then will have made a difference."_

He had meant Loki; he wanted Bruce to come with them when they went after Loki. Tony knew that Hulk wouldn't harm Arella. Now he wasn't sure if Bruce would stick to the same rules. The man who turned to him, his eyes dull but not defeated, wasn't the Hulk; he wasn't going to smash them. He was Bruce Banner and for the first time, Tony saw the potential to kill in that intelligent face. Bruce was going after her; he was going to kill her, but why? To save Arella from whatever Loki had planned? Tony knew that Bruce believed death was a better alternative than life in some cases. Then he remembered Loki's words.

_I have an army, Arella, and a way to send you back home._

Home. Arella had run away, she had escaped from her home. Bruce was going to kill her to stop Loki from sending her back. What was so terrible about home? Tony wondered.

… …

"I don't need to teach them anything else, just make sure they stand still when it happens. I don't want to have to chase them all over Paris when I need them." Arella walked away from Loki's dazed recruits, the Asgardian trailing her. A few were on their knees, gasping for breath and one had fainted. TO be fair she had lost her patience and hit him with a fistful of shadows but still, he wasn't going to be of much use.

Loki nodded sullenly, not quite prepared to admit that she was the one giving out instructions.

"We get to Paris, we evacuate the city centre then we set up the portal. The Avengers will come as soon as they see us. The moment your friends come through I take Bruce and leave. You don't follow or send anyone after us. I don't really care what you do after that, Loki, I just never want to see you or anyone sent by you. Understand?" He stared at her for a moment then cocked his head slightly.

"Why evacuate the city? It's not as if the people will live any longer." She let him walk past her, chuckling to himself. "Oh, and Arella?" Loki stopped and turned to her. "Merza sends his love to his new sister-in-law."

She slammed the shadows into him, snarling in her own language. Loki merely laughed as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Don't you want to go home? Your friends are terribly lonely without you. I heard there was barely anyone at Tchako's funeral. Do you not want to pay your respects? He died saving you after all. I wonder who you felt meeting Hawkeye. He's quite a marksman, isn't he? A wonder if he could make the same shot. No, he probably would have hit the right person." She hit him again, throwing him back towards his recruits.

"Getting angry, Arella? I thought that was your boyfriend's problem. Oh but you would make the beast look like a child compared to your fury. You made the strongest man on your world quake with fear until he found a way to control you. You scared your sister, one of the most powerful women in the universe into hiding. You could destroy this world, if only you knew how."

"You confuse me, Loki. It almost looks as if you have a plan you're keeping a secret from yourself," she commented lightly, letting him get up before slamming him down again nonchalantly.

"Great generals learn from their setbacks. I always have another plan," he said as he wiped the blood from his lip.

"Plans go wrong, dreams never come true. Tchako died because his plan went wrong, Fran died because her plan worked. I don't make plans, Loki. I have an objective, getting it will sort itself out."

"You have an extraordinary faith in the plan of the universe," he answered and walked away. This time he didn't goad her and she didn't hit him. It was a vast improvement on last time.

… …


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

… …

Arella looked at the backpack of armour Tony had given her and sighed. She put it back on the floor; she wasn't going to need it. As an afterthought she pulled her sword and gun holsters out, just in case. One side of the belt was oddly light, the gun missing. Arella searched through the pockets of the bag, wondering where it had gone. A knock at her door told her that she didn't have time to find it.

"We are leaving, now," Loki said coldly, not bothering to wait for a reply. She once more had no choice but to follow him. They walked down the corridor in silence and came out of the large town house to be greeted by a sight Arella never wanted to see again. Loki's army stood in ranks, prepared to march on Paris.

"What a glorious day," he remarked. Once more Arella envisioned how much better he would look if he was relieved of his head. She took off before he could say something about how it was good weather for a battle or an equally irritating comment.

The army began to march, Loki being carried on a dais in the middle. People screamed as the hunched beasts tore their way through the city, leaving a pile of debris behind them. Arella threw shadows along the road to keep the citizens out of the way. Alarms and sirens began to wail around her. That was good, maybe people would get to safety. She wasn't sure where safety was but Paris wasn't safe, not at that moment.

It wouldn't be long, she realised, until the Avengers arrived. They would already know of the disturbance and no doubt be on their way. She tried not to think about it.

The Eiffel Tower, normally swarming with tourists, was abandoned. People peered timidly out of doorways and from behind police cars. The French army had turned up, yelling at them in various languages. It was only when Loki gave the order to fire that all hell broke loose. Shots were exchanged and both sides began to take casualties.

"No! Wait until the gate is open, I need them!" Arella screamed at him. There was no way she could do what she was about to do without the combined strength of the soldiers.

"Hurry up then," came the reply. She soared above the fighting, straight towards the large metal conductor I the centre of the park. There were taller buildings on Earth but none were quite as suited to the task as the Eiffel Tower. Mostly made of metal, high enough to reach the weak points in the layer between Earth and the universe and close enough to her original point of entrance to take less energy to open the gate. Standing at the very top, she began to pull in the energy around her.

"Arella, you do not need to do this!" Thor's voice yelled suddenly. Apparently the Avengers were already there. He landed next to her, storm clouds brewing around them.

"You can't stop him, Thor! Not with what's coming!" He moved towards her, hammer raised.

"We defeated him before; his army is being destroyed as we speak!" Whatever Thor had to add was lost as a brilliant green light, similar to the Northern Lights, appeared around them, crackling with energy. "What have you done?" He charged her before she had time to explain, before she could tell him what she was doing. They fell, tumbling down. They were going to hit the lower part of the tower as it spread out if they didn't stop. Arella grabbed Thor's arm and flung out her wings. He was too heavy for her to control their direction well enough to miss the metal beams. Thor made a dent in one of them; she fell straight through the gap, hitting her arm.

"They are here!" Loki called in delight, staring up at the sky.

… …

Tony flew along, shooting the twisted creatures Loki was using as an army. They were less impressive and far easier to kill that the Chitauri, it was almost too easy. Then he saw the light show going on atop the Eiffel Tower and swore. Great so now there was something else to worry about. He hadn't seen Arella but judging by the falling mass of white and red Thor had found her and decided that she would look better if he squished her onto the pavement below.

"Hands up who knows what the fireworks are for," he said into the comm. link.

"Right, anyone got a nuke I can shove up there?" His humour fell on deaf ears.

"Steve, watch out, Arella's shaken Thor off," Natasha told him as a building exploded behind her for no apparent reason.

Steve was standing in front of a police line, protecting the people behind him. The white-winged angel was heading straight towards him, shadows clenched in her fist.

"Arella, why are you doing this?" he asked in the split second before she smashed into him. That didn't make sense, he thought as he drove her to one side. If she was trying to kill him, why not use the magic she so obviously had? He was having trouble adjusting to Arella being a real enemy and was therefore reluctant to deal any mortal blows. Arella didn't appear to have the same problem as she kicked him squarely in the stomach.

"I don't want to kill you, Steve," she said over the noise of the battle.

"Funny way of showing it," he spat and caught her shoulder with his shield. She fell to the floor and he realised that she wasn't wearing any armour. She did, however, have her sword which cut into his neck. He gasped and didn't quite manage to duck away in time.

… …

Arella landed with the smallest of bumps right in front of Loki.

"They'll be here any minute," she told him, checking that Thor was not about to charge them. "I'll be going now."

"I think not. You could still have tricked me. Kill…" Loki paused and looked around. "Captain America. Then you will be free to go and I will keep my side of the deal."

Arella gathered the shadows into her hand as she spotted Steve.

"I hope you rot in hell," she snarled at the Asgardian.

"Good bye, Arella. Unless you change your mind." She didn't have to see Loki's face to tell that there was the same grotesque leer on it there had been earlier.

She looked up at the sky, knowing now that she couldn't shut the portal without at least a few mages coming through. Thor had messed up her plan. It had been a plan after all and she had expected it to go wrong.

… …


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

… …

Arella watched as Steve fell sideways gasping, until he was sprawled on the ground next to her. She felt eyes on her. Arella stared up at the building, straight along the arrow shaft pointing at her. Eyes narrowed, bow taunt, ready to release. She didn't move. The smoke drifting around did nothing to mar his view of her.

"Fire, Hawkeye, just fire," she murmured although he couldn't hear her. She couldn't stop the tears flowing down her cheeks any more than she could stop the blood flowing from Steve's collar.

"Arella!" She turned to see Bruce running towards her except she didn't really see Bruce; it was Tchako again about to push her out of the way, about to take the arrow himself. He crashed into her, spinning into the path of the missile. She couldn't let it happen, not again. It happened every time she closed her eyes, every nightmare. This wasn't a nightmare, it was real. She sidestepped him, pushing him behind her and spreading her wings to cover him.

"No!" Natasha screamed over the link, deafening her partner. The Avengers turned to see Bruce doubled over, a mass of white wings in his arms. Cruel laughter echoed over the street. Thor charged at the figure dressed in black, hitting nothing but shadows.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki asked from a place several feet away from his brother. There was silence for a second as everyone took in what had just happened.

A single gunshot echoed through the streets and Loki doubled over, clutching at his stomach.

"I see you found my gun," Arella coughed weakly. "We need to shut the gate." Bruce was staring at the arrow pointing out of her chest with horror.

"Look out!" Tony yelled. "Shooting him doesn't work." Loki was on his feet again, grinning. He showed no sign of the wound Bruce had given him. Arella pushed herself up, the world spinning around her. The arrow had punctured her right lung but not her heart.

She held out her hand and shadows curled around her fist. Loki laughed and kicked Steve, causing the super soldier to let out a low moan in her semi-conscious state.

"Now would be a great time for you to get angry," Bruce whispered and backed away. He let go of his control. The Hulk charged at Loki, letting the god know exactly how he felt about him.

Shadows fell from the sky, ripping Hulk away from his target and smashing him into the ground. He made a wounded mewling sound similar to that he had made in the cell on the helicarrier. That was enough to make Arella lose it.

"Leave. Him. Alone," she growled at the shadows and raised her hands towards the gate in the sky.

… …

Natasha had thought she had seen it all after the Chitauri. She had just been proved wrong. A beam of light shot into the sky, exploding the portal that had been spewing shadows. She stared at Arella who lay on the ground not far from Steve and began to run. The others could take care of Loki.

Arella wasn't moving. Natasha's hand flew to her neck, searching frantically for a pulse. Behind her Thor crashed into his brother, Tony hitting him repeatedly with gunfire.

There was no pulse. Natasha brought her hands to the spot right next to the arrow wound and began to push down in rhythm.

"It's no use, Nat," Clint said quietly from behind. She kept trying anyway, refusing to give up. He put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her away.

"No, Clint. She was on our side." The Black Widow didn't cry, she didn't let go. "Get Bruce, he's a doctor," she yelled but Bruce wasn't with them. Hulk was lumbering towards them, growling at Clint. The archer backed away, well aware that it was he who put an arrow through Arella's chest.

"Arell?" the green beast asked softly, poking her chest with more force than Natasha had been able to. Arella sucked in a shaky breath as the pressure made her heart jump again. She didn't open her eyes. Hulk let out a pained roar then slid down to the ground. Clint threw what was left of Bruce's shirt that had been lying on the ground over the man.

"Are all the bad guys dead?" Tony asked a slight grin on his unprotected face. Loki was once more in chains. "So whose side was she actually on?" Both SHIELD agents glared at him.

"Arella was on our side. She knew about that portal thing and was going to rig it but Thor interrupted her," Natasha said through gritted teeth.

"Then why try and decap the Cap?" Tony nodded to where Clint was trying to get a bandage around Steve's neck.

"I don't know, Tony, but Arella just saved the world and she's about to die if we don't get her to some medics soon. Steve needs to be checked over too." Tony nodded and carefully picked the winged girl up.

"This is going to be one hell of a debrief," he muttered. "Don't forget Banner."

… …

Natasha sat very still on the chair next to Arella's bed. She hadn't moved for several hours. Clint had come and gone to check she was alright, Tony had made a few useless comments and Steve's bandaged head had popped in just to see if Arella was alive. Banner hadn't been seen, either in the infirmary or on the helicarrier. Somehow he had left. He had run away. No one wanted to sit with Arella; no one knew what she had done or which side she was on. Only Natasha understood. She had done everything to keep Bruce safe, to keep him from getting hurt. Yes, Arella had probably done everything she could to stop Loki from sending her back home as well but primarily it had been for Bruce. Natasha sympathised with that, she could relate to it. Not that she would admit it to anyone.

Clint was feeling guilty that he had once again hurt a friend because of Loki. Tony was angry that Arella had seemingly hurt Bruce and Steve was hurt in several different ways. The team was no longer much of a team, Natasha thought.

Arella's eyes flickered over after three weeks of no movement.

"Hey," Natasha said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Bruce?" Natasha hadn't expected her to say anything else.

… …

**Okay this isn't the end but it is a lot shorter than I imagined it to be. I'm sorry about that but I wanted to get it all finished before I had to go back to school. There will only be another chapter or two.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

… …

"He's not here right now. Don't sit up, you're still critical," Natasha said, pushing Arella back down gently.

"Loki?"

"Thor took him back to Asgard." Natasha didn't add that the god of lies was facing a death sentence now instead of just imprisonment.

"Steve?"

"He's alright. Why did you go after him like that?" It was the only thing that bugged the spy, the only thing that hadn't been in the plan.

"Needed Loki to keep trusting me, get some time to close the gate," she wheezed and descended into a coughing fit that worryingly brought up blood. "Still critical," she repeated with a bitter smile.

"Stay critical for a while; Fury can't interrogate you when you're critical. Do you want me to go and get Steve?" Natasha span around before she finished talking to see Steve standing at the door.

"No need, Agent Romanoff," he said. Natasha got up and left them to it, heading off to find Fury. Arella was going to need someone on her side when she came out of intensive care.

"I'm sorry, Steve, I didn't mean for you to get hurt that bad. I needed more time to close the gate," Arella began, her voice coming and going in short bursts.

"How does trying to kill me give you more time?" he asked sharply.

"Loki ordered me to take you down; I didn't mean to hit your neck." She stopped, knowing that sorry wasn't good enough.

"We don't know if we can trust you anymore," Steve murmured. "There's a lot you didn't tell us, why?"

"It didn't take me long to realise that the things I could do, things I found normal, weren't possible here. I saw how you were used, how Bruce and Tony were used as weapons and I didn't want to be put in a cage and studied. Even when I joined you guys to fight I fought like you did so that I wouldn't be seen as a threat. Natasha realised soon enough that there was something else I could do so I told her. She only told Fury when Loki came back." Steve stood there for a moment before sitting gently on the side of the bed.

"I believe you," he told her softly. "I don't agree with you but I believe you."

She smiled at him before another coughing fit took over. Steve pulled on oxygen mask over her face.

"You get better, I'll get Banner, deal?" he asked, smoothing out her hair before he left.

… …

"Okay, walking. Walking's important, most babies can do it," Tony was saying, standing too close to be helpful. They were in Arella's room at Stark Tower which had been turned into a medical suite and was now very full of people. Clint stood off to one side, far enough away to be present but not in the way. Unlike Tony and Steve who were practically glued to Arella. Steve because he was currently holding her up and Tony because he was being annoying.

"Ignore him," Pepper said with a sigh.

"I'm trying. Tony, go away or you'll knock me over." Tony bounced over to Clint for a second before finding a rattle from somewhere.

"Well we are teaching her to walk again, aren't we?" he asked as everyone gave him death glares.

"No helping, Stark," Steve growled. "Are you okay?"

"You've asked me that about five times. I'm fine. Now let go and we'll see how long it is until I need one of you to catch me." She made it about three steps before Natasha stepped in to hold her steady.

"He's in Montana, he went back," she whispered in the split second before the others crowded around. "Two more days for the meds to wear off and you'll be walking again. I'll take you."

… …

"The track ends here, do you want me to walk you the rest of the way?" Natasha asked as she pulled the land rover up at the edge of the woods.

"You're going to follow me anyway, aren't you?"

"Of course." Natasha helped her out of the car and they began the walk up the slope. It took longer than it should have done due to the difficulty Arella had breathing. When they finally reached the cottage several hours later she was exhausted.

"I'll be here," the redhead said. "Good luck." Shakily Arella crossed the small patch of empty land between the trees and the house. She could hear the chickens around the back and the goat. Carefully she pushed the door open.

"Bruce?" The room was clean and tidy but devoid of any signs of him. "Bruce?"

"So you came back," a dull voice said from behind her. He looked alright, normal. "Why?"

"You aren't hiding, you wanted me to find you," she answered slowly. "I wanted to explain."

"There's no need, Natasha did that for you. How you saved the world and all that."

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. I wish I had."

"You've turned into an Agent, Arella. Another Natasha ready to lie to people or kill them without batting an eyelid. She's waiting outside to take you back to New York, you should go." Arella stared at him in shock. He turned away from her but couldn't hide the fact that he was almost crying.

"I'm sorry I hurt you, Bruce. I'm sorry."

"Go or stay, it won't make a difference. I won't be here much longer anyway," he said bitterly.

"You came here so that I could find you, now you want me to leave. Make up your mind. Or are you going to run?" She nearly shouted at him but her cough came back at the wrong moment.

"I… I don't know…" he faltered.

"Fine. When you do you'll know where to find me. I came to you, Bruce, when I was about to leave. It's up to you if you want to do the same." With that she left, reaching out for the trees and Natasha's steadying hand.

"You're right," she gasped as the redhead pulled her away from the house. "Love is for children."

Natasha felt Arella sag against her shoulder and the world seemed a tiny bit darker. No matter what her own feelings were, the Russian believed that other people could have that elusive thing and Arella deserved it. To hear her say that sort of broke something inside her.

… …

**That's it, the end. Okay so a follow up will come, but not as quickly since school is about to start. Thank you all for reading, reviews are love and Arella kind of needs that right now.**


	15. Epilogue

**Author's Note**

**So hi! This isn't a chapter, more I'm just telling you that I finally got around to writing the third one in this series. On Angels' Wings. Here's an extract from it. **

… …

"I don't want to go."

"You have a duty to your people, to your family, to me. I cannot believe you would be selfish enough to let what you want dictate your actions."

"Why, that is what you always do! If Jeie wants a royal wife, marry him yourself! Oh, but that's it. He doesn't want you, he wants me. Why? I'm just the younger sister, the last in line to inherit; your heirs would have a better claim than mine."

"I don't know what goes on inside the King's mind, you just have to come back."

"Or what?"

"You'll be abandoning your family, your friends, you whole damned world!"

"I already left! I left and I didn't even bother saying goodbye to you! I was perfectly happy here until you came along! Family? What family? I've got you and you don't care! I don't even know if mother's still alive, she certainly is never going to set foot outside her family's estates again. I've got friends here, brilliant friends who actually give a damn. Tchako's dead, Fran's dead, Gabi's dead, who do I have back home except Merza and he's here. Go back home and tell Jeie if he wants a Queen, you're more than willing but I will not bow or call him King. My father was the King, my brother should have been."

"They're gone, Arella. Don't be stupid and throw away your chance at a future! I'm your sister; I don't want to see you rot here!"

"No, you'd rather have me where you can gloat over my fall."

"You seem to be under the impression I hate you.

"Don't you?"

"I'm your sister."

"That doesn't answer the question."


End file.
